Ostranauts News

Hey Folks!

Ostranauts v0.7.0.4 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.

This patch changes the way save files are structured to make them multi-file, and should help users who regularly experienced save failure issues.

Saves from 0.7.0.3 should work, but due to the change in save file structure, all backup saves will be deleted when the new save is created. So if you have precious info there, you should make a copy of those before saving again.

• Changed the way save game files are structured, to be multiple json files instead of a single, large json file.
  

The only change in this patch is to the file structure of save games. Instead of a giant (often approaching 100MB) json file, it is now a series of smaller json files in a folder matching the captain's name.

The main benefit of this change is to reduce the frequency of save failures some players were seeing. I.e. clicking "Save" stops working after a while, usually in cases where the save file was getting very large

Users who previously experienced this bug have so far reported that saves work normally again, so hopefully this solves the issue for you, if you had it!

The multi-file save format might also make searching through the save jsons a bit easier, for those of you interested in modding/editing your saves.

Also note that, for now, the game will load both the old and new save formats as we make the transition. Eventually, we'll phase out the old format and it will only read the new multi-file save structure.

As always, there's plenty more for us to fix, change, and add! And we'll be continuing in roughly that order. In the meantime, let us know if this patch helps you out, as well as if it reveals new problems!

Best,
Daniel Fedor
Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC

Hey Folks!

A little over a year ago, we launched Ostranauts on Steam Early Access. And over the course of the past year, we've had a number of stability fixes, quality of life changes, new features and content added to the game. We've also had a year of chatting with fans to get a better sense of what they're expecting out of Ostranauts, and a better idea of how fast we can work.

So we came together recently as a team to more concretely discuss the road to launch. Which features do we still want? Which ones do we have the time (and ability) to produce? Are any of them needed before others can be complete?

[h3]And most importantly of all, this roadmap is designed to help you (the customer) in deciding if this is a game for you![/h3]



[h3]How does the version numbering work? Where is 1.0?[/h3]

One of the first things you might notice is our new version numbering system. Going forward, we'll be using version numbers like 0.X.Y.Z, where:

• X - A major feature or update.
  
• Y - A significant change within the major update.
  
• Z - A hotfix or patch.
  

And notably, versions like 0.8 don't directly correspond to "80% done." Ostranauts will leave Early Access sometime after 0.16, likely late 2022, or early 2023. At that point, we'll change the leading "0" to a "1." And we are approximately expecting about one of these major version updates per month. (Though some are definitely bigger than others, and therefore slower.)

[h3]Where is the ____ feature? Will it ever be added?[/h3]

A FAQ is forthcoming for specifics, but for now, the answer is "it depends."

The list of features we want to build is extremely long. And we only had a limited amount of time to fit it into. Furthermore, some features just cannot be added until others are already done. So for now, a number of those features are in the "if we have time for it" bucket at the end of the list.

Maybe it'll get added before 1.0. Maybe even after 1.0. But for now, consider the above roadmap to be the stuff we have planned for 1.0.

[h3]Will this roadmap change?[/h3]

it might! We're pretty sure this roadmap is how it's going to play out. But we could be wrong! Something could interrupt us. Someone might be called away. Or on the other hand, maybe Ostranauts goes viral and we can hire more help!

The roadmap will update as time goes by, and we will do our best to keep it accurate.

[h3]Will there be another feature vote?[/h3]

Maybe? But probably not.

The first vote was really helpful, and we learned a lot from it about what the players want. It gave us a clear list of priorities from the community, and helped us shape the order of this roadmap. You'll probably notice just about everything from the last feature voting round is here.

The order in which they have to be done, however, is now fairly well-known to us. So even if players want, say, combat to be first, it has systems like wounding which need doing first. And likewise, long range travel is going to require some ship-board systems be finished.

We're always chatting with fans, though. And always open to feedback! Part of what makes Early Access such a success is that it allows us to develop with the benefit of timely feedback, resulting in a better game for the people playing it.

[h3]I have questions![/h3]

Great! We (might) have answers!

If you want to ask us anything, feel free! We'll be keeping an eye on our Steam and BBG website forums, Discord, Reddit, and all the other places you see us active.

Thanks for reading, as always. And hope you're as excited about what's to come as we are!

Best,
Daniel Fedor
Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC

Hey Folks!

Ostranauts v0.7.0.3 is now available on Steam. Named "The Gig Economy" Update, it represents a major feature update, hence the change from 0.6.x to 0.7.x. (Be on the lookout for a post soon with our new roadmap!)



It includes a new Gig Nexus kiosk where captains can take contract work, several new perimeter stations around K-Leg, accidental debris collisions, and even a new music track from Josh Culler!

[h2]For best results, you are encouraged to start a new character.[/h2]

Old saves might still work, but there's a decent chance they'll cause bugs. And will definitely miss new content.

It's a pretty significant patch, so we've broken down the change list into sections.

• Added new job kiosk called Gig Nexus to all major station areas, allowing players to take short term contract jobs.
  
• Added Gig Nexus app to PDA.
  
• Added K-Leg ATC Station, Security Station, Nav buoy, Mooring buoy, and Flotilla ships to game.
  
• Added occasional chance of damage from hypervelocity debris/micrometeoroid in boneyard.
  
• Added procedural graffiti and grime to Gig Nexus kiosks.
  
• Changed pricing on food, drink, and jobs.
  

• Added more colored wall lights to game. (Some only in editor so far.)
  
• Added new audio track from Josh Culler!
  
• Changed NPC ships to also spawn from all nearby stations.
  
• Changed NPC ships to occasionally choose nearby stations as destinations instead of derelicts.
  
• Changed NPC ships to occasionally dock with nearby stations instead of the main regional station.
  
• Changed code to make NPCs occasionally use transit when available.
  
• Changed AI to interrupt player less when in UIs and social combat.
  
• Changed lighting to look a little softer now.
  
• Changed powered items to prefer using external power before internal power.
  
• Changed item power overlay to always show input location even when it is powered.
  
• Changed alarm and other LED indicator lights to emit low illumination.
  

• Fixed a bug that did not shield players from AI-caused collisions correctly.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused OKLG salvage permit to expire too early.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused captain to ignore player if they were directed manually to walk through an airlock without a helmet.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused sparks to get stuck on crew if they were interrupted while installing.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused sparks to only appear at beginning of install action, instead of during entire action.
  
• Fixed some ship designs which were using old air pumps that didn't have PDA install order support.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused AI ships without any pilots to continue last maneuver forever.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented powered items from reducing their charge when drawing power from themselves.
  
• Fixed a bug that causes null exception when reactor is charging and rechargeable is deleted.
  
• Fixed a bug that generates a power icon at an object's center if it has no output defined.
  
• Fixed bug that caused selected part to use wrong control panel image in editor.
  
• Fixed an overlapping text layout issue in roster and duties UIs.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused dead or sleeping NPCs to use station transit.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused K-Leg Commercial district power to blip off and on again when first loading.
  
• Fixed the friendly name of the toilet item.
  

As you can see, quite a bit was packed into this update! The new stations around OKLG are pretty far out, and require a bit more planning to reach. And with the new Gig Nexus kiosk, some jobs are going to take you out there. Plus, more NPC movement means more traffic, and your target may move before you get there. Combined with hazardous cargo, debris hazards in the boneyard, and bonuses for early completion, you should hopefully have some new fun ways to put your ship (and captain) to the test.



The lighting system had a bit of work done, and you'll hopefully notice that lights look a bit nicer now. Particularly the indicator and other colored lights. And speaking of color, you may start to see some colored wall lights appear in game! (We're still in the process of adding all colors, but you can preview them in the editor if you wish.)

Several fixes went into the power and recharging systems, installation sparks, and the way NPCs use transit and travel.

Plus, one of Josh Culler's new tracks is finally hooked-up! And anyone with the OST product in Steam should also see it appear there. It's called The Sky Kings, and is a reference to the namesake for Ogiso's Register in the game.

And as always, we love hearing what you think! Tell us how your run goes. What works for you? What is or isn't fun? What do you want to see next?

Thanks for reading, and fly safe!

Best,
Daniel Fedor
Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC

Hey Folks!

We're preparing our next big feature update for Ostranauts (v.0.7.0.1), and it's a pretty big one. We're pretty happy with how it's turning out, but we could use a hand stress-testing it for bugs and balance. So we're opening it up as an opt-in beta branch, for those who want a sneak preview.

Note: Saves created in this version may break as we fix issues.

If you've been waiting for missions to fly, now is your chance! Introducing: Gig Nexus, your one stop shop for buying and selling contract gigs in the Ostranauts universe.



Gig Nexus is a procedural job generation system that sends intrepid spacers out on unique missions, from recon jobs to item delivery and even, if you're feeling flirty,
Before we go live with the feature, though, we'd like to widen our test group to test it for crashes and save errors.

The bugs we’re on the look out for are specifically Out of Memory crashes, and File Saving failures. Truthfully, we can’t seem to reproduce them on our machines here at BBG HQ, and we’re not sure we have enough data to know how common they are, and what could be causing them.

That's where you come in! If you'd like to give it a go, opt-into the "public_test" beta branch via Steam and start a new character and save file.

To opt in to the beta:

• Right-click Ostranauts in Steam
  
• Choose Properties…
  
• Click BETAS
  
• Choose public_test
  

Your client should download and update your build within minutes.

Once you're in, take some gigs and let us know how it goes! Either on the Steam forums, or over at our Discord.

If you run into a crash in-game, or the game fails to save, we'd be interested in any data you can provide about how it happened. And if possible, we ask that you upload your save and any crash files somewhere for us to take a look.

To get your game’s save data, go into OPTIONS, FILES, and SAVES:



Your character’s save data will be in either Save1, Save2, or Save3 depending on the slot.

We would like as many of the following files as are present:

• saveInfo.json
  
• PlayerName.json (This will be different depending on your character’s name)
  
• output_log.txt
  
• error.log
  
• crash.dmp
  

The log and crash files above may only appear if your game crashes, and Unity detects it. You'll be presented with a dialog box asking if you want these files. But the first two save files will exist for any character you successfully saved.

(Also, unless we follow up asking for backups, please do not send any .bak files as these will be large and likely contain duplicate info we don't need).

Please zip all your files up and upload them as one .zip or .7z folder if possible, then send us a link to the file.
This makes it easier for us to keep related files together, and will make the overall size smaller. You might be able to upload directly on Discord.

If you have any trouble locating/sending files ask in the bugs channel and one of the dev team or mods may be able to offer assistance/alternative methods of submitting files. Thank you!

Hey Folks!

Ostranauts v0.6.12.8 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.

This patch addressed a few older AI issues and annoyances, as well as a recent door bug.

Saves from 0.6.12.7 should work, but saves that previously experienced issues may continue to experience those issues, requiring starting a new game.

• Fixed a bug that caused airlock to not open when player attempted to manually open it.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused disgruntled employees of other companies to take it out on player, often interrupting them.
  
• Changed police ships to hover at a safe distance until player undocks, instead of bumping them occasionally.
  
• Fixed a bug that left boarding permission on police after they return to OKLG, causing them to visit player ship.
  
• Fixed bug that let player name drop Fixer to Fixer as a voucher.
  

There was a bug that could cause airlocks to ignore player input, trapping them on a ship. Usually caused by an NPC attempting to open a door as the ship undocked. And this should now be fixed.

NPCs also had a long-standing bug of taking out their frustrations specifically on the player, even when not on the player's crew. They should no longer regard the player as the "boss" in such cases.

Police flight AI should now loiter at a safer distance when waiting for the player to undock, resulting in fewer cases of being pushed out of the area.

Police AI also had their permissions updated to stop allowing them to casually board the player's ship when at K-Leg.

And finally, the Fixer no longer accepts themselves as a reference.

As always, there's plenty more for us to fix, change, and add! And we'll be continuing in roughly that order. In the meantime, let us know if this patch helps you out, as well as if it reveals new problems!

Best,
Daniel Fedor
Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC